I really love to see those slice winners. They show that you really have outsmarted and outmanoevered your opponent instead of just pummeling the ball. In the last decade I have only seen Federer hit slice winners on a regular basis.
It's a shame that Larisa didn't put more into her singles career. As we can see from some of the points here, she was gifted racquet handler with a lot of feel.
Some of the other women didn't have a chance against someone like Steffi. Neiland was an okay player in her time but she was just completely outmatched...couldn't run fast, no baseline game, couldn't hit at pace for more than a few shots. These days even players outside the top 100 are fit and can frustrate or sting a few times themselves a lot better so that the top seeds know they can't just canter. Steffi often looked like these early matches were just an inconvenience in her busy schedule. She used to blow into her hands between shots due to sweaty palms, but she might as well have been looking at her watch...
Well you obviously did not see their match at the Olympics where she was the only player to take a set from Graf and came perilously close to beating her or the 96 Australian where she led in the first set 5-2 and actually had set points. She had a great backhand and of course great hands at net
@@kdohertygizbur Yeah I saw that match at 88 Olympics QF. I think Larissa led 3-1 in the final set but Steffi steadied her game and won in the end. Larissa is one of those players that on a good day can trouble Steffi a bit (Lori McNeil and Mariaan DeSwardt among others). Not in this FO, though.
Neiland was always a dangerous player in draws, but this match was on clay. It slows down Neiland's game, and serve-and-volleyers in general, and clay slowed down Neiland herself. Also consider that at this time they were playing with modern racquets but not the overdone ones today. Today's racquets are just too much, and it's either that players (pro or recreational) today get too much help from them, or they are hiding behind them. It's a shame because we don't get to see the true game and abilities of the player, and neither does the player see their own abilities and style themselves.
@@alexsdb9712 the very match I was talking about at 88 Olympics QF is finally here (albeit only the 3rd set)... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1rfyfwjISe8.html
This wasnt clay court tennis lol savchenko was really a unique player, she gave a good fight at some early round at the 97 aussie open i think, but by that time it was a different steffi graf, a very injured 1997 steffi graf
